Nomination of Two Members of the Commission on Civil Rights, and Designation of Chairman and Vice Chairman

The President today announced his intention to nominate Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr., and Mary Louise Smith to be members of the Commission on Civil Rights. The President also announced his intention to designate Mr. Pendleton as Chairman and Mrs. Smith as Vice Chairman.

Since 1975 Mr. Pendleton has been president of the Urban League of San Diego, Calif. He is also president of the San Diego County Local Development Corp., a nonprofit subsidiary of San Diego Urban League, Inc., and president of Building for Equal Opportunity (B.F.E.O.), a profit making subsidiary of the San Diego Urban League. He was director of the Model Cities Department, city of San Diego, in 1972-75; director, urban affairs, National Recreation and Parks Association, in 1970-72; recreation coordinator, Model Cities Agency, city of Baltimore, Md., in 1968-70; and instructor in physical education and recreation, Howard University, Washington, D.C., in 1958-68. He has served on the Community Education Advisory Council, U.S. Office of Education, since 1979 and the Governor's Task Force on Affordable Housing, State of California, since 1978. Mr. Pendleton graduated from Howard University (B.S., 1954; M.A., 1962). He is married and resides in La Jolla, Calif. He was born November 10, 1930, in Louisville, Ky.

In 1961 Mrs. Smith became a member of the advisory board of the Iowa Federation of Women, a position she still holds. She served as vice chairman of the Wright County, Iowa, Republican Central Committee in 1962-63 and was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1964 and a delegate and member of the platform committee at the Republican Convention in 1968. She served as chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1974-77, and was the first woman of either major political party to organize and call to order a national convention in August of 1976. She is presently a member of the executive committee of the Republican National Committee and served as chairperson for the women's policy advisory board for the Reagan-Bush campaign. She graduated from the University of Iowa (A.B., 1935). She is widowed, has three children, and resides in Des Moines, Iowa. She was born October 6, 1914, in Eddyville, Iowa.